Why don't you just use Firefox ESR instead of Chrome?

  • AGI likes this.

Deepdeep No, sorry, I have been busy reversing Windows updates and the BIOS. I am testing Opera and Firefox ESR for the moment. I don't know anymore what causes what, but my laptop screen hurts like hell.

      It's not the browser. Stop and take a break. Do a clean install, there is no point trying to reverse updates and the bios both at the same time. Plan things out properly.

      AGI sorry to hear that you haven't managed a fix yet and hope you find one soon. Meanwhile, it might help to try using sunglasses coz in my experience they can reduce the strain on some devices, and sometimes quite significantly. I wear the sunglasses over my prescription glasses, btw.

      • AGI replied to this.
          4 days later

          Deepdeep I am considering trying Avulux glasses. Theraspecs ones didn't make a difference. I'm a bit tired of throwing money away, though.
          I'm skeptic I'll find a solution as I have limited control of my laptop. I'd need to ask my IT admin for a clean install of Windows, and then the OS version will be 22H2 which I'm not confident I can adjust to.

            Back to Firefox ESR for just a question: pop-ups for update appear; is it safe to update (strain-wise) or should I just keep dismissing them?

            It's fine. ESR updates are just security fixes. Next version bump isn't till Sep or Oct.

              a year later

              Firefox ESR updaed today to 115.5 and it became strainy. I had to uninstall and reinstall 115.4 and disable updates; so, beware!

              FF 130 seems ok on my Linux device so you should try jumping all the way to the front (if you care about updating, I don't, I haven't bothered on my Windows machine).

              You can set it up as a parallel installation to a different folder and point it at your profile folder (or just have a separate profile for it).

                For me whenever this happens with my 8.1 laptop I restore to a restore point I created before I installed Chrome, and it consistently fixes it for me. Firefox doesn't seem to affect it (however I am using an older version of Firefox ESR and freezed updates to it many months ago)

                BTW, on some Win 8.1 laptops by Lenovo, there's a weird quirk that causes the screen to feel more unstable when anything is plugged into any port, no matter if it's power, a USB wifi adapter, an Ethernet adapter, mouse, etc.

                However, this is a very unique issue that I really haven't seen on any other laptop, on other devices I own the ports don't affect strain at all. Probably is due to poor isolation of components inside of the laptop or something like that.

                So due to that, I'm also only able to get the best screen output on my Win 8.1 Lenovo by only using the on-board WiFi + Bluetooth mouse + nothing connected to ports at all + I don't use it while it's charging unless I really need to.

                (i.e. an Ethernet cable and a USB mouse actually causes more strain on my Lenovo because those require using the ports)

                • JTL replied to this.

                  DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs BTW, on some Win 8.1 laptops by Lenovo, there's a weird quirk that causes the screen to feel more unstable when anything is plugged into any port, no matter if it's power, a USB wifi adapter, an Ethernet adapter, mouse, etc.

                  If it's consistent across OS's and etc I would guess either EMI or some sort of "brownout" condition

                    Sunspark FF 130 does not install on 8.1, the latest ESR that I could install is 115.9.1. I would like to stay on 115.3.1 which is without issues, but youtube clips keep freezing on it.

                        8 days later

                        Alyosha2001 Today, I decided to experiment a bit with FF. I have been on ESR v102 for ages, but created 2 new profiles and installed ESR v128 and Release v130 to separate folders and added the needed shortcut calls to use separate profiles since I am testing and wanted to see how they are.

                        v130 looks subtly better than v128, so I think you should watch this video and make it so that v130 will launch on your 8.1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szoNZNBnP_g

                            5 months later

                            Sunspark Thank you, the latest versions of 135 do not work, as they require API-ms-win-core-version-l1-1-1.dll, but now I can use 130 and 128 latest ESR.

                            The thing is that anything later than 115.3.1 gives me dizziness on an otherwise all day usable system. I have also tried Tor, Brave, Chrome, Opera, Plasmafox, they are all strainy. On top of that, yesterday I got a message telling me that my current firefox certificate will expire very soon and I will not be able to browse web, play videos, etc.

                            I searched full changelog of 115.4, but found only this "Various security fixes and other quality improvements.".

                            Any suggestions or guides on how to pinpoint the culprit and, maybe compile future versions without it? I guess that would maybe apply to other different programs that are just as bad.

                                13 days later
                                dev